Approval Of Contra Aid Ups Risk Of Entanglement

June 28, 1986

PASSAGE OF President Reagan`s $100 million Contra aid package by the House of Representatives opens a new phase in a strange operation that, to this point, can best be described as military malpractice.

With passage by the Republican-controlled Senate assured, the U.S. will, for the first time, openly give arms support to Nicaraguan rebels attempting to oust the Sandinista government and permit the CIA and the Pentagon to manage the Contra program.

While this escalates U.S. participation and increases the chance of serious entanglement, it does remove one element of deceit from a clumsy game of make- believe.

Windy and acrimonious debate about covert aid to a force of indeterminate size trying, with questionable leadership and dedication, to overthrow a government with which this country still maintains diplomatic relations does not build widespread public support for a controversial conflict.

Critics of the Contras say the movement`s leaders are in Miami, its money is in the Bahamas and Cayman Islands, and its soldiers are in Honduras.

That overstates the opposition case. There is enough truth there, however, to fuel legitimate concern about the Contras` ability to overthrow Nicaragua`s Sandinista leaders under any circumstancess short of direct U.S. military involvement.

Overshadowed by the president`s successful fight to coax reluctant congressmen to his side was the enlightened approval of $300 million in economic aid to Nicaragua`s neighbors and creation of a bipartisan commission to monitor progress toward peace in Nicaragua.

Strengthening the economic base and alleviating the poverty of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador will do much more to frustrate communist ambitions in Central America than U.S. military dollars and administration rhetoric.

The monitoring commission should, in turn, bring the public a more informed view of what is taking place in the jungles of Honduras and Nicaragua.

The panel should serve as a reminder to the president that he hasn`t been given carte blanche to pursue a military solution and that the Contadora peace process should be kept alive.

It also should focus on the promises of egalitarian reform that have been broken by the Sandinistas, on the build-up of Soviet equipment and advisers in Nicaragua, and on just how serious the leftists themselves are about bringing a permanent halt to hostilities.

Reagan`s victory sends a message to the Sandinistas that he can still rally support to oust them. It also defuses his argument that the House has been aiding and abetting the Soviet Union in gaining another foothold in the Western Hemisphere.

More important, it buys time to find a more reasonable way to bring peace to Central America than a muddled installment plan war.